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Parks Canada’s National Historic Sites Cost-Sharing Program
Project Recipient: Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation
National Historic Site: Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site
Total Project Cost: minimum of $100,000
Parks Canada’s Contribution: up to $50,000
Project Description:
The Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation conservation project will focus on one of the highly threatened kilns within the Claybank Brick Plant complex, kiln # 4. It will address water penetration through the kiln's roof and water runoff that has led to a series of masonry issues including saturation and deterioration of the bricks, efflorescence on the brick face, washing out of mortar joints and perhaps deflection of the domes and walls. The proposed work will help stabilize the kiln and help guide future work on the remaining kilns at the site. This investment will ensure the commemorative integrity of this important national historic site is maintained for present and future generations.
Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site
Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site is a former industrial complex used for the manufacture of clay bricks from 1914 to 1989. It is located in a predominantly rural area of south-central Saskatchewan, along the Dirt Hills of the Missouri Coteau, near the communities of Claybank and Avonlea. The core of the 132 hectare site is a 37 hectare plant area containing buildings dating from the 1912-1937 period: a factory building, 10 kilns, a laboratory, an office building, a boiler room, stock sheds, a carpentry shop, residences, outhouses, and a bunkhouse. The site as a whole extends over a broad area encompassing internal road and path networks, the main approach to the plant, vestiges of industrial processes, the narrow-gauge rail line and a spur line that were used as part of an internal and external transportation system, and the clay pits in the Dirt Hills, from which clay was extracted for brick construction.
The Claybank Brick Plant was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1994 because:
- it is an extraordinarily intact example of an early 20th century brick-making complex which retains all of the key structures and brick-making equipment of the 1912-1937 era;
- the plant was one of Canada's major producers of clay refractory products used by the railways and the oil-refining, power and metallurgical industries, using clay which was mined on-site; and
- because of the production of the distinctive face brick which was shipped for use in the construction of buildings across the prairies and beyond.
The heritage value of the Claybank Brick Plant lies in the relatively intact state of the physical resources from the late 1930s, including all of the key structures, equipment and industrial landscape elements from the 1912-1937 era. As such, it is representative of the way in which functional requirements and efficiency were primary drivers in the design and construction of industrial facilities. The plant, designed by Richardson-Lovejoy Engineering Company, was one of Canada's major producers of domestic clay refractory products, supplying fire-proof, heat-resistant, non-corrosive bricks for construction across the country, but especially in Western Canada. The complex is also an intact example of a self-contained manufacturing enterprise that used materials extracted on site.
Cost-Sharing Program
The National Historic Sites Cost-Sharing Program is a contribution program whereby up to 50% of eligible costs incurred in the conservation of a national historic site can be reimbursed. This year, the Program aimed to assist non-federal owners of national historic sites that demonstrated a real and immediate threat to the commemorative integrity of their national historic site and for which an intervention was required in the short term to maintain the physical integrity of the threatened cultural resources. A national historic site possesses commemorative integrity when it is healthy and whole, and when the site’s heritage values are protected, communicated and respected. The Program supports Parks Canada’s mandate of protecting and presenting places of national historic significance, and fostering the public’s understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of these places in ways that ensure their commemorative integrity for present and future generations.
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National Historic Site: Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site
Total Project Cost: minimum of $100,000
Parks Canada’s Contribution: up to $50,000
Project Description:
The Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation conservation project will focus on one of the highly threatened kilns within the Claybank Brick Plant complex, kiln # 4. It will address water penetration through the kiln's roof and water runoff that has led to a series of masonry issues including saturation and deterioration of the bricks, efflorescence on the brick face, washing out of mortar joints and perhaps deflection of the domes and walls. The proposed work will help stabilize the kiln and help guide future work on the remaining kilns at the site. This investment will ensure the commemorative integrity of this important national historic site is maintained for present and future generations.
Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site
Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site is a former industrial complex used for the manufacture of clay bricks from 1914 to 1989. It is located in a predominantly rural area of south-central Saskatchewan, along the Dirt Hills of the Missouri Coteau, near the communities of Claybank and Avonlea. The core of the 132 hectare site is a 37 hectare plant area containing buildings dating from the 1912-1937 period: a factory building, 10 kilns, a laboratory, an office building, a boiler room, stock sheds, a carpentry shop, residences, outhouses, and a bunkhouse. The site as a whole extends over a broad area encompassing internal road and path networks, the main approach to the plant, vestiges of industrial processes, the narrow-gauge rail line and a spur line that were used as part of an internal and external transportation system, and the clay pits in the Dirt Hills, from which clay was extracted for brick construction.
The Claybank Brick Plant was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1994 because:
- it is an extraordinarily intact example of an early 20th century brick-making complex which retains all of the key structures and brick-making equipment of the 1912-1937 era;
- the plant was one of Canada's major producers of clay refractory products used by the railways and the oil-refining, power and metallurgical industries, using clay which was mined on-site; and
- because of the production of the distinctive face brick which was shipped for use in the construction of buildings across the prairies and beyond.
The heritage value of the Claybank Brick Plant lies in the relatively intact state of the physical resources from the late 1930s, including all of the key structures, equipment and industrial landscape elements from the 1912-1937 era. As such, it is representative of the way in which functional requirements and efficiency were primary drivers in the design and construction of industrial facilities. The plant, designed by Richardson-Lovejoy Engineering Company, was one of Canada's major producers of domestic clay refractory products, supplying fire-proof, heat-resistant, non-corrosive bricks for construction across the country, but especially in Western Canada. The complex is also an intact example of a self-contained manufacturing enterprise that used materials extracted on site.
Cost-Sharing Program
The National Historic Sites Cost-Sharing Program is a contribution program whereby up to 50% of eligible costs incurred in the conservation of a national historic site can be reimbursed. This year, the Program aimed to assist non-federal owners of national historic sites that demonstrated a real and immediate threat to the commemorative integrity of their national historic site and for which an intervention was required in the short term to maintain the physical integrity of the threatened cultural resources. A national historic site possesses commemorative integrity when it is healthy and whole, and when the site’s heritage values are protected, communicated and respected. The Program supports Parks Canada’s mandate of protecting and presenting places of national historic significance, and fostering the public’s understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of these places in ways that ensure their commemorative integrity for present and future generations.
News Release associated with this Backgrounder.
